three people are reportedly trapped inside the bus. behind that transit bus is a school bus that was also involved in this accident. thankfully, no children were on the bus. just the driver. the bus everyturned, the school bus did. you can't see it in the shot, but it's behind this bus. >> steve: they've autopsily called for a med vac. switching gears completely, the 2013 academy awards are going to be in the land of lincoln, the movie. 12 oscar nods, including best picture and director. other films up for best picture are "argo," "beast of the southern wild." "django unchained," "les mis," "life of pi," and "zero dark thirty." >> brian: katherine big low wasn't nominated for the controversial movie. ben affleck also passed over. >> steve: sorry, ben. and "silver lining playbook" received four nominations all in

the acting category. >> brian: last time that happened was 1981, "reds." i was wearing the same outfit (see you tomorrow. going on, brian. long as can be. fox news alert. white house might use executive orders to go around congress and push through new gun laws in america, setting off alarm bells. possibly setting up a showdown over the separation of powers. that would be intriguing. welcome everybody, to "america's newsroom." i'm bill hemmer. martha: good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. vice president joe biden meets today with the nra and wal-mart that is set to be a pretty contentious meeting. two powerhouses in the gun industryer this, but biden's comments got gun owners fired up yesterday. here is some of that. >> the president is going to act. there are executive orders, there are executive action that can be taken. we haven't decided what it

will be yet but we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action we believe that is required. bill: this is top pick a, now. stephen hayes, senior writer "weekly standard." good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: what type of order would fit an executive mandate in this case? >> there are a couple different things the white house is considering. one would be harvesting the information already available to a wide variety of government agencies and passing that onto the fbi for inclusion in its database about who can and can not buy guns. things that would indicate mental health problems, what have you. i think there are also potentially looking at recess appointing the head of the atf, the alcohol, tobacco and firearms bureau, which hasn't had a head since 2006. those are a couple of things that the white house might be looking at doing sort of on its own. bill: we're about to dive

back into the debt fight and the spending issues in washington. mitch mcconnell says that will take up the next few months of time. >> yeah. bill: so you start now to see the strategy as to why the white house would pursue executive action if they follow what the president said after newtown, that he is not going to delay on this. >> right. it's been interesting. we've seen the white house of course do this. for a white house that came in, a president that came in having railed in the 2008 campaign against sort of the overreach of executive power, he has shown very little restraint in using executive power himself, whether you're talking about immigration or a wide variety of other things he did in the first term to expand his power to do the kinds of things he wanted to get done but wouldn't be able to get done legislatively. i think we're looking at exactly the same kind of scenario here. bill: what kind of pushback would you anticipate if it goes forward? >> very strong. you alluded to the kind of pushback we're likely to

hear. you will hear pushback on substance. republicans and others are saying this is not something we should be doing. gun control hasn't worked. you looked at assault weapons band for 10 years. it didn't do anything to reduce the gun related violent crime. you will also hear objections that will be based on process. people will say, look, mr. president, you can't do the kinds of things you're talking about doing if he goes beyond a couple of sort of smaller-scale things that have been reported the white house is looking at. bill: something to watch. we certainly will. stephen hayes from the "weekly standard." fox news contributor down there in washington. here's martha. martha: more on this now. second amendment supporters are rallying. they plan to hold a gun appreciation day. that will take place on january 19th. they're encouraging gun rights supporters to go to shops, ranges and shows with a copy of the constitution, u.s. flags and hands off my guns signs with them. they want to send a message and want to send a big one

toe president obama and congress just days before the president's second inauguration. bill: a democrat in california, self-proclaimed devoted sportsman leading a congressional task force rather on gun violence. congressman mike thompson says he wants to hear ideas from every side before he meets with the vice president scheduled for monday of next week. >> i think we all need to be involved. this needs to be the part-time profession of everybody for a while until we get it right. bill: congressman thompson, already considering recommending a ban on assault weapons and limiting the purchase of certain magazines. also under consideration is proposing a national background check. martha: all right. dealing with the mortgage meltdown. there are some brand new rules that are about to be unveiled and they are meant to protect borrowers from loans they can't afford and from the kind of debacle we saw in 2008. but it could make it very difficult for some people to actually get a mortgage. stuart varney joins me now, host of "varney & company"

on the fox business network. >> good morning, martha. martha: how would this work? >> as you know there are two sides of the mortgage fence. there are the borrowers and there are the lenders. these new rules apply to both sides of the fence and they're tightening rules for both sides. start with the lenders. 9 bank, lender, person, organization that lends you the money, now has to prove that you can repay the loan. they have got to show you, you got to show proof and the bank must make sure that you have got an income, you've got a job, you've got good credit and you can indeed repay the loan. in other words no more of those liar loans. no more no documentation loans. no more interest-only loans. so the rules very much tightened on the lender side of the equation. on the other side for the borrower, there's a new rule which limits how much of your income you're allowed to spend on your mortgage. specifically, 43%. that is the absolute maximum that you can spend from your income to service your mortgage.

so both sides of the fence, much tighter rules. with the intention of eradicating all the abuses we saw in the boom years. and as you said, martha, it will very likely lead to fewer loans being offered. martha: you know when you read through this, stuart, it reeds like the kind of laws and common sense stuff been in place all along. it doesn't feel like we should need a consumer finance protection board, blah, blah, blah, to put this into action but you do wonder how well it will be executed. how well will they do the job deciding whether you're fit to get a mortgage and have people decide that on their own? >> the point we went so far off the rails in the boom years, especially 05, '06, so far off the rails with those liar loans that now you've got this retreat towards much tighter standards, much more strict rules. as you say, martha, it is common sense, isn't it? i mean you have to limit how much you can afford to pay

on your mortgage and the bank should make sure you can afford to repay. it is common sense but now it's been codified, so to speak. the rules go into effect one year from now. martha: we'll see how effective they are. stuart, thank you very much. stuart varney, fbn coming up. bill: we have brand new jobs numbers from the labor department 40 minutes ago. for the week last week that number rising by 4,000 americans to 371,000. that is the highest number we've seen now in five weeks. we'll see how the markets react to that coming up at 9:30, 23 minutes from now. since december of 2007 though, weekly jobless claims have stayed above 300,000. spiked in early 2009 on the chart as you see. economists say that weekly claims must consistently fall below 375,000, shown by that yellow line on the screen right there, to indicate that the job market is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate. this past fall weekly jobless claims dipped below that line.

today's report of 371 shows slightly below that line again. well under that to bring that unemployment number down. 7.8% now. martha: john brenneman could be in for a battle as president obama's pick for the central intelligence agency. lawmakers looking to press brennan on his support for the enhanced interrogation techniques before he decided he was against them. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live from washington. you have followed john brennan's career for many years here. he has been all over the map on this issue has he not? >> reporter: that's right, martha and good morning. the senate intelligence committee recently finished a classified 6,000 page report on the cia's enhanced interrogation program said to concluding a aggressive methods, critics call them torture did not provide solid intelligence. it was during this period john brennan was at cia senator feinstein is ardent critic of cia program and she leads the senate

intelligence committee along with ranking republican saxby chambliss the past has been highly critical of brennan's law enforcement approach to terrorist prosecution. it comes with the release of the movie "zero dark thirty." which depicts the manhunt for usama bin laden and the cia's use of the enhanced interrogation program. while deannouncing waurd boarding as un-american in a 2007 interview, brennan told cbs news said it was valuable. quote, there has been a lot of information that has come out of the interrogation procedures that the agency used against real hardcore terrorists. it has saved lives. aside from what critics describe as significant inconsistencies in his public statements on the program they also question whether brennan can cast himself as neutral after four years inside the white house, martha. martha: it is said john brennan and the president have a good relationship and that that may be one of the reasons that the president really supports him for this job. what's the white house's defense of john brennan? >> reporter: well, martha,

earlier this week the white house took the position that brennan's stated portion four years ago is the only one that matters. >> one at the time, mr. brennan wrote a letter in which he made clear he opposed so-called enhanced interrogation techniques and two, for the past four years john brennan has served as this president's chief counterterrorism advisor. >> reporter: we talked about the cia piece of this confirmation but brennan will also likely face very aggressive questioning about the administration's expansion of the drone campaign and targeted killing of american citizens. you see here the al qaeda operative. anwar a al lackey, killed in a cia strike in september 2011. without due process. that is the came time they were advocating the 9/11 suspects be transferred to federal court in new york city with full constitutional rights and presumption of innocence and these are two strategies

impossible to square, martha. martha: we'll hear a lot more in these hearings. catherine, thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. bill: on top of all that you have hillary clinton on benghazi too. so watch for it. a startling new statistic how complicated it is to do your taxes and how much you pay in the end after all of that. how many hours a year would you say americans spend on paying their fair share? we'll tell you. plus the push to simplify things and whether or not that goes anywhere. martha: a whole industry counts on that, right? lessons on libya. how the terror attack cast as shadow on the future of afghanistan. bill: this is a public health emergency in a major american city, one of our largest after the deadliest flu outbreak we've seen in a decade. >> a strain out there causing a lot of cases is more virulent strain than some others. as a result more people seem to becoming down with symptoms bad enough to warrant the visit to the emergency department. new prilosec otc wildberry

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martha: we've got a fox news alert right now because there is severe weather that is sweeping through the southeast right now. and a tornado warning that is in effect in baton rouge you need to know about if you're in that area. janice dean joins me from the fox weather center. what can you tell us. >> tornado warnings in january is what is happening across the south. this is very springtime or spring-like system with very warm air ahead of this cold front marching through the area. this is the same system that brought close to eight or nine inches of rainfall across texas and louisiana. tornado watch in effect until 2:00 p.m. local time including the city of new orleans. this is our tornado warning just east of baton rouge. this tornado is on the ground and spotted by the public. so a confirmed tornado. we've seen tornado warnings throughout the early morning hours. these are rain-wrapped tornados, the possibility of rain-wrapped tornados. people can't necessarily see them coming.

we're seeing rainfall amounts of one to three inches an hour. that is the danger. we can't see the tornadoes coming. keep the weather radios handy. show you where the severe threat is for louisiana, mississippi and across upper portions of mississippi river valley, arkansas through memphis, tennessee, through the ohio river valley. we'll keep you posted certainly martha throughout the day and bill. we could see a volatile situation unfolding. back to you. >> thank you for that, janice. we'll keep an eye on it. bill: there are new reports the legacy of the deadly terror attack in libya is looming large over the future of the u.s. involvement in afghanistan. president obama meets with hamid karzai late tomorrow in fact. the attack in benghazi reportedly a driving factor in the ultimate decision in how large of a force to leave behind. john bolton, former ambassador to the u.n. and fox news contributor. welcome back. what do you make of this? how do you put this together? >> i think it has got our

priorities backwards. if taliban takes control again in afghanistan, we won't have to worry about protecting drone bases or diplomats because we won't be there at all. and i think this is part of the unreality of the obama administration's approach there. the low troop numbers that they're contemplating, that they will be discussing with president karzai will not be any where near sufficient to accomplish our strategic objective, america's strategic objective which is defeating the taliban. and i think we're --. bill: it is fascinating. i apologize for the interruption how the events in benghazi are now shaping our foreign policy whether this administration wants to admit it or not. >> well that perhaps is the small glimmer of good news that they recognize that benghazi was a real debacle for our security policies for embassies overseas but the larger question here in afghanistan is the administration's unwillingness to do what we need to do to prevent 10

years of sacrifice and loss of life by our forces from simply being wasted if the taliban come back into power. bill: well this administration, this president, wants to get out of afghanistan, would you agree with that. >> absoluteliers the question is, what kind of a force do you leave behind? >> he is looking, they are leaking recently. they're looking at what they call the zero option which is leaving essentially nobody behind. the taliban have a saying in afghanistan, talking about the u.s. they say you have the watches. we have the time. and they're just watching this debate in washington and calculating when they're going to be able to get back into power. bill: do you really believe that though? do you buy that public argument they're making, we will entertain the possibility that we leave zero troops behind? or is that just a negotiating ploy with karzai on friday? >> well look, we're not there to help karzai. i don't have anything against him or the people of afghanistan but we're not in that country to secure his

regime or give those people a better life. we're there to prevent taliban from retaking control of the country and once again using it as a base for international terrorism and, endangering the government of pakistan and risking the prospect that pakistan is very substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons would fall into radical hands. that's why we're there and if we lose sight of that and i think that's what the administration is doing, we'll find ourselves sooner, rather than later, under real threats once again. bill: that is a significant issue. something we'll watch especially tomorrow. thank you, sir. >> thank you. bill: john bolton in washington. martha of the. martha: this is a huge story right now. we have a deadly flu outbreak that is really causing havoc and so much illness in this country. one city has declared a public health emergency on this. so there's a lot you need to know. that's coming up. bill: also a mother saving her family from an intruder with her own gun. police just releasing the 911 calls of a terrifying home invasion.

listen here. >> i heard a lot of screaming. >> right. i'm sure she's upset. >> no. she was shooting. as a mom, you spend a lot of time helping others. hamburger helper can help you back. and with box tops for education on every box, it helps you help your school. so you're doing good, just by making dinner. hamburger helper. available at walmart.

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bill: president obama expected to nominate white house chief of staff jack lew later today to be the next treasury of the secretary, but if lou is confirmed he might consider sharpening that signature which will pretty much be on all u.s. currency. here it is loopy and arguably unreadable. current treasury secretary tim geithner said he had a similar problem before he took over. here it is before he took the job. and here what it looks like now. he improved his penmanship to make it easier for folks to read. i can't argue. have you seen mine? martha: it deteriorates with every passing year.

bill: jack lew that --. martha: well it is the worst flu outbreak in at least a decade and doing a number on people across the country. the virus is reported in 41 states with nine states reporting high or severe levels of flu. boston's mayor says his city is under siege. he is declaring a public health emergency. the state of massachusetts reporting 18 flu-related deaths so far. the hospitals can barely contain all the people pouring into them. >> we're seeing significant rates of hospitalization, much more serious than we've seen in the last two years. martha: molly line live from boston. molly, what can you tell us and i hope you have had a flu shot? >> reporter: i have had a flu shot actually. there have been 700 cases of flu across the city of boston this flu season. that is up dramatically over last season at this time when there had been just 70 days. it is so bad as you

mentioned boston's mayor declared it an emergency. they want to bring attention to encourage people to take precautions and get their flu shots if they haven't done so alreadip there are 18 deaths you mentioned across the state. four in boston. those were mostly older people. that compared to one death in all the flu season. here in the city officials with the boston health commission are reiterating the seriousness of the numbers that the mayor here has spoken about. >> we have a terrible problem on our hands with lots of people sick with flu. the 700 cases that he mentioned are confirmed cases but there are thousands of other people who are sick with influenza-like illness. >> reporter: the officials are also saying this is a particularly virulent strain of the flu. it is type-a h-3 influenza strain. known to cause more serious illness and serious outcome. that is why things have been so pad. the cdc says the h-3 sprain

is covered in the -- strain is covered in the vaccine being offered. they are encouraging everybody to get out there and get the shot. martha: if you get a shot you're likely to get a weaker flu if you do get it but some areas of the city we understand, molly are getting harder hit than others. why is that? >> reporter: manchester, others these are minority neighborhoods, urban areas where the population is close together. people that make less money in these neighborhoods, that is the type of population they have in these neighborhoods. they're less likely to see the doctor, less likely to take time off from work and more likely to go to work which means they could be spreading the flu to their coworkers as well. it has a domino effect. this hospital alone, boston medical center, one. hospitals that serve that population, 85 cases just in the last week. martha? martha: wow, people have to take any precautions they can with this, molly, thank you very much. bill: it is nasty. dramatic new details of a

mother who shot and seriously injured an intruder inside of her own home while she and her husband desperately dialed for help. >> she is screaming at him. she shot him a lot. she is shooting him. she is shooting him. she is shooting him. something ? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

bill: we are learning more now after a terrifying home invasion, after a mother use as gun to shoot an intruder and protect the children inside of her home. police have released the 911

call that her husband made after hearing the shots fired through the phone. elizabeth prann is live in atlanta on this story now. what happened, elizabeth? >> reporter: melinda herman was home alone with her children last friday when she called her husband donnie. he was at work in atlanta. they live 45 minutes west of atlanta. she heard an intruder break it into her home. that is when she called her husband. the phone call you're listening to is between her husband and the 911 operator. he was on another phone. he had just taken his wife to a gun range to teach her how to shoot the gun. listen. >> he is in the bedroom. relax. just remember, everything that i showed you. everything that i taught you, all right? she shot him. she is shooting him. she's shooting him. she's shooting him. she's shooting him. >> okay. shoe shoot him gain!. shoot him! oh, no.

>> she came out of the attic. she is screaming at him? >> she shot him a lot. >> reporter: police say melinda herman shot paul slater five times hitting him in the face. the mug shot we have is from 2008. bill? bill: just to be clear, elizabeth. he is talking to 911 operate or one phone and listening to his wife on another is that right? >> reporter: he called 911 from work and stayed on his phone with his wife at the time. sort of getting through to her, calming her down. she was in an attic with her two nine-year-old children at the time. as far as slater is concerned we spoke with the medical center. they can't release any information with regards to his condition. we heard multiple media reports that he is still alive. he was shot several times in the face and torso area. according to the police report. in fact we have a little bit more of that 911 phone call. listen here.

>> i heard a lot of screaming. >> right. i'm sure she's upset. >> no. she was shooting. >> right, right. >> i heard him pleading. he was, he was screaming. >> reporter: now she and her children did run to a neighbor's home after the incident and all three of them are unharmed but obviously very shaken. bill? bill: elizabeth prann, thank you for that story out of atlanta. martha has more. martha: an incredible story. meanwhile the nra is drawing new attention to this woman's story as an example how guns can protect citizens. it is a hot debate. let's bring in doug schoen, former pollster to president bill clinton, and monica crowley, radio talk show host and both fox news contributors. good to see you. what a story! if you were to craft a scenario to make a good argument for someone having a gun, and what are the chances she just recently went to the range

with her husband. she went over all this stuff with her husband and then someone tries to break into their home. monica, you start. what do you take away from this? >> this is could instantly become and i think unwittingly become an example of responsible gun ownership. the reason they had a handgun in their home, by the way they kept it very safely. they kept it in an actual safe was for this very kind of scenario where their lives and their property was being threatened. and in this case she was working from home. a man came up to the front door, burst into the house. she grabbed her two children, martha. ran upstairs. locked herself in a room, bat room. called her husband who called 911. they did everything correctly. this intruder came in. i'm not sure whether or not he was armed but in any case she had every right to defend herself, her children and her property and she did. martha: the creepy thing is, he opened the door, according to the report that i read, where she was hiding and then she started firing at him. he was clearly looking for people in the house.

he wasn't just looking to come in and grab some money off the dresser and take off, doug. it appears that he intended to do harm to this woman's and saved the lives of herself and her family. >> that is very clear and what monica said is exactly right. there is a good case for responsible gun ownership but what we're talking about, those who support gun violence prevention legislation is to end irresponsible gun ownership. why which need better coordination and more universal background checks. i don't believe assault weapons have any place being owned and i think these high-capacity magazines should go. gun owner ship is fine. this woman, absolutely, miss herman is a hero and i regard her as such. i'm not against responsible gun ownership. i'm against owning guns that have no place it in society. martha: one of the problems with this dialogue it has dissolved into this sort of frenzy. you've got places like

gawker and journal newsprinting names and addresses in some cases of people who are legal gun owners in these different communities. that gets us away, doug, you're trying to pull pus back to what the conversation is really supposed to be focused on, gets away from it though, monica. where is this leading? >> yeah, we're ending up focused on the wrong thing and in view of these tragedies, the aurora case, the newt town shooting, and these are horrendous tragedies and everybody's heart goes out to the victims and families in these cases what usually happens is a response disproportional and also not particularly appropriate because we have an emotional response and what we end up doing is intruding on basic freedoms, second amendment freedoms and we end up focusing, martha, on people like mrs. herman, law-abiding citizens, rather than focusing on actual criminals in these cases. martha: you can't help but be struck by the fact that she had a gun she was able to protect herself and her

family. that's a fact, regardless how you feel about guns in homes that is a fact. when you look back ad adam lanza, doug, the only thing that stopped him from emptying that gun and those bullets into more children was that he saw a policeman coming towards him with a gun. that is what stopped him. that is what changed the dynamic in newtown that morning. that is something we all have to think about. it raises this question of arming guards in schools? i mean this is serious debate we really need to have. >> to me what the nra said may be a small part of the problem but i don't think that armed guards in schools is the whole answer. i think we do need to do mental health. martha: let me ask you this. would you want to have somebody with a gun, a guard, at your child's school after what happened there? >> well, it is certainly, i was trying to say part of the solution and but i don't think it is the whole solution. we have to do mental health counseling. i think we have to control the control the culture of

violent videogames and i think we have to do gun control and do better background checks and get rid of high-capacity magazines. we need to do it all. i'm glad the nra is meeting with the vice president and i'm looking forward with the vice president's recommendations. martha: monica, last thought. >> we have to see. the vice president yesterday caused quite a controversy whether he said executive orders or executive authority might be invoked in this case to do something on gun control and i think that panicked a lot of people that this administration might overreach. we'll have to see but i think acting in an extreme way in an emotional way as a response to these tragedies is absolutely the wrong thing and when you look at poll after poll, martha, what you see is about 60, 70% of the american people do treasure their second amendment rights and don't want to see any kind of extreme gun control. >> nra added 100,000 people, paying members to their rolls. they're shooting for five million during the course of this debate and it is a serious one and one we need to have in a serious way. i thank you both for talking

about it this morning. doug, thank you. monica, always a pleasure. bill: a debate that will continue. breaking news now out of new jersey. this is old bridge, new jersey, 35 miles south of new york city. here's what we have. at least three people screen left, taken away by a stretcher. fox new york, wnyw with the pictures for us today. a new jersey commuter bus screen right, hit a tree and then we understand another bus, a school bus, not in the shot here, with only a driver on board, no students luckily, that was involved as well. perhaps it overturned. that you can not see in this shot. not clear how many people were on the commuter bus or if anyone is trapped inside. there was a report about 50 minutes ago that three people might be trapped. we're looking, we're working through that, but that is some information out of old bridge, new jersey, and now you see that small school bus turned over on its side. so we're watching that for you. wnyw, fox new york with the pictures for us this

morning. >> all right. so a startling number of hours that we all spend doing our taxes and the push to make all of that drudgery a whole lot simpler. wouldn't that be nice? bill: yeah, please. like to travel, do you? how about a trip to mars, huh? big ol' voyage with one big hitch you need to know about, big hitch. ♪ i love to eat. i love hanging out with my friends.

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♪ . martha: always good to hear the beach boys, right? here is something in favor of thank you notes, folks. have you written those after christmas? we had a big discussion last year teaching cursive writing in schools and importance of it. indiana lawmakers are

talking about a plan that could teach cursive handwriting to students. the education department dropped cursive writing as a requirement. they expected students to be more efficient in typing. this handwriting folks, it is a dying art. bill: you teach your kids to write letters, right? martha: absolutely. bill: good, smart, cool etiquette. martha: absolutely. bill: well-done. eye-popping numbers, bringing new calls to reform the u.s. tax code. we spend 6 billion hours a year doing taxes, folks. fox business network's charles payne with more on this how are you doing, charles? >> i admit i forgot how to write cursive. i tried to write a note recently. bill: apparently jack lew did too. listen, man, we can argue about the tax burden, about the time and you can argue about the tax burden of actually paying your darn

taxes for crying out loud. but mercy, two heed. >> 6 billion hours. the gao did a study in 2005 said the inefficiency of the tax code, this is back then. the inefficiency the time that it costs us to gather everything up, cost the country up to $600 billion a year. the last time this thing was revamped it was 1986. 2001, 5000 changes. four million words, the tax code. four million words. bill: what politicians always say, hey we'll make it easier. >> read it line by line. i will take care of you. i got your back, baby. don't worry about it. think it was giuliani said do it in one page? i think maybe he should run again because this is outrageous. bill: four million words, is absolutely absurd. what we find nine out of 10 people now either hire an accountant or going to the computer or using some sort of software program to accomplish this feat. that's sick. >> that is sick. it is expensive. in fact we've got more tax preparers in this country than we do law enforcement

and firefighters combined. 1.2 million people who just prepare taxes in this country. bill: really? >> it is a beast, it is a wild animal. here is another thing in this report that's interesting. they say if we get rid of all the credits, that's one of the things, all the different loopholes. bill: what is a credit? if you have a kid, a spouse. >> tax credit, earned income credit. mortgage deduction, all these things if he got rid of all of that stuff? bill: all that stuff is considered a credit? >> got rid of all of it, made the whole thing simple. put it this way in 2011 the treasury lost out on one trillion dollars in revenue. bill: because? all the different credits? >> all the different credits. bill: you have to replace that with something and obvious answer would be -- >> why do you have to replace it with something. bill: lower the tax rate to make it a flat tax. >> we're talking about getting rid of credits. people would put the money in. this money would go to the treasury. in other words these are giveaways, gimmes, the things we can't get rid of.

bill: you deal in money every day, right. >> right. bill: you know with a real estate deduction people sometimes are tempted to buy a home. >> right. bill: do you think that is ever going to change when the market is on the floor the way it is? >> till be means-tested. at some point the baby steps will be means-tested. do you have to give someone a millionaire same sort of tax breaks, legitimate millionaire, not one of these 200, $300,000 millionaires. do you give them same tax break as household making 80,000 or 40,000 dollars a year? ultimately you will see means testing as baby steps towards tougher decisions. bill: i buy that. what about deduction for charity? we all like to think we're charitable to give money to folks who need it. >> right. bill: part of the incentive many people have to write the check because they know they're getting something back in the end. >> there is no doubt about that. listen, that's why we have this impasse in washington. that's why we can't get our act together. everyone has a argument for why all these things are compassion that the, maybe

morally write or maybe argue them from an economic point of view but ultimately you know what? we have huge expenses and keep getting more every day. i don't know where they all come from but we'll have to make real tough decisions. bill: one more point. talk about simplifying the tax code i think of steve forbes. >> of course. bill: is there anyone else out there that has the national stature. >> he authored giuliani's one page tax return. no one articulated it as great as steve forbes. it is nuts it has to be this complicated. 20% of the money the irs takes in is spent on just preparing these tax returns. this is just nuts. it is crazy. bill: four million words. >> four million words. bill: good luck reading that. >> good luck reading line by one. that is lot of highlighters, that's for sure. bill: loopy, loopy. thank you, charles. hemmer@foxnews.com is the e-mail. at twitter @billhemmer. tweet lines open, because you asked, bya for chuck payne. martha: want to make sure

that doesn't change one bit. >> 1.2 million. martha: thanks you guys. as the debate over the new gun laws rage on, one town, listen to this, has voted to make sure that every single household in their community has a gun in it. why city leaders say they think this is a very good idea. and one company is looking for people who are willing to go to mars. here's the hitch. you can't come back necessarily. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant

bill: which are learning more this morning after that new york city ferry crash that broke yesterday. this hour in fact during "america's newsroom." the ntsb will try and determine if new equipment played a role in that accident. the commuter ferry that originates in new jersey, it just received new engines and a new propulsion system.

more than 50 people were injured when the ferry had a hard landing arriving in lower manhattan this time yesterday. martha: now to a story that is truly out of this world. a dutch company is looking for a few good humans who might be willing to travel to mars and maybe no guaranty that you're ever coming back. that is the tricky part about this story. mars one wants to establish a colony on the red planet. they want to do it by 2023 applicants must be 18 by the time that date rolls around. must speak english and must not have any pressing business on earth, ever, ever again. we have a chief astronomer from the franklin institute. it is a great place to visit. good morning, derek. >> good morningings, martha. martha: tell me about this program. >> this is unique way to colonize mars, the trick you mention about a one-way trip. it may sound crazy but when you think about it how this

planet was explored 500 years ago, explorers like captain cook and magellan took big risks like this all the time knowing there was pretty good chance they might not come back. it is not entirely nuts to think about it doing it this way. martha: when you put it that way and think about the pioneers going out west and as you say explorers that left europe, some thinking that the world was flat and they might fall off the edge, it is a very interesting comparison. so who do you think would be up for this job and what are the requirements? >> well i think people who would be up for this are the ultimate explorer type people. people who really want to be on the cutting-edge of learning about our solar system or carving a place out in history for themselves like the great explorers of this planet have done. maybe people who, who realize that this is their best chance at a really wonderful thing to do. and the requirements for this, well, i think one of the requirements is that you have to have a really stable, sort of mental attitude about this because you are

going to be out there either alone or with just a few other people over a very long trip in a place where you don't have other resources outside you. martha: obviously we haven't sent anybody to mars except the rover and we've seen really interesting pictures that have come back and possibility there might have been water there at some point. >> yes. martha: how would you survive up there? i mean it's impossible to imagine at this point. >> yeah, that's true, but the way this would have to be done everything that is needed for them to survive would have to be sent out ahead of time. all the equipment to create the water, to create breatheable air, food supply, habitat, roving capability would be sent ahead of time. martha: biosphere? >> set it up as a camping site if you will, beforehand. make sure it is operating before you send travelers there, explorers there. then give them everything else they need to work with that equipment to establish a liveable habitat. martha: so little kids right now who may be 18 by 2020 three have something to

think about. derek, thank you. >> my pleasure. bill: i'm going to mars and i'm not coming back. martha: exactly. bill: gone. the reaction is heated after the vice president suggested that the president may take action on his own going around congress to push through new gun restrictions. bret baier on the backlash and the reaction to that. martha: plus this question being raised. where are the women? governor romney was ridiculed when he said he had binders full of women when it came to filling high-profile jobs, remember that? a lot of folks are saying that president obama may need to get some binders of his own. [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. make it worth watcng. introducing the 2013 lexus ls. an entirely new pursuit. [ bop ] [ bop ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i don't like v8 juice.

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[ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. martha: gun rights advocates are up in arms. they are calling for protests as they try to fend off a bid for tighter regulation, calling for a national gun appreciation day in this country. firearms groups say send a message to the white house on this. and they are already sending a

message of sorts because they are buying guns at record pace. joining the nra at record pace, it is a huge battle that is going on right now as we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." glad you are with us this morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning at home. the backlash is spreading by the hour. in colorado more and hundred protestors rallied outside the state capitol where lawmakers are considering a ban of assault weapons. >> i don't want any part of any freedom taken away. the freedom to own any firearm i choose, however many rounds i want too keep, it's my freedom. martha: the nra and other gun advocates will sit down with vice president biden later today, he's been meeting with different groups all week and it is their turn today as part of this on going discussion about gun violence that really came out in the wake of what happened in newtown, connecticut. joined by bret baier anchor of special report. good morning, bret.

>> good morning, martha. vice president biden will talk to members of the nra, that will be a contentious discussion i would imagine. what got so much attention yesterday was his suggestion that the president might input an executive order. what kind of shape would that take? >> reporter: well, that is a great question. executive action, there are a number of things that could possibly fall under that, but there are gun laws currently that are not being enforced. thousands of them, actually. but executive action on top of that, perhaps would expand the backed checks, federally. you could -- there are a number of things that the white house could do outside of congress, and that has raised a lot of eyebrows in washington. the push back is not just the nra as you mentioned, you have a massive kind of grass roots effort and this gun appreciation day scheduled for january 19th. it's being structured a lot like you'll remember that chick-fil-a

uproar back in august when the opposition groups to same-sex marriage supported chick-fil-a and the president of that restaurant, the owner of that restaurant in his speaking up about that, and people came out around the country supporting that restaurant. this is much like that, and groups are organizing to support and line up around gun shops, and ranges and have signs on january 19th, two days before the president's inauguration, to send a message about guns. martha: yeah, i mean i guess the question is, how much the president feels empowered by his second election, you know, the inauguration a couple of days away and what his read is on where the country is on this issue. we heard from gabrielle giffords and mark kelly the other day, they say they are gun owners but want to see restrictions on assault weapons and multiple clips. what is your sense for which way this is going?

when. >> reporter: you know, at the beginning, soon after newtown and at the beginning of this back and forth it seemed like that could have a lot of votes in congress to move through. it seems as often has happened that sides, they go to their corners. we'll see after the vice president comes out with the tax force recommendations whether there is some coming together on some solutions. what hasn't been talked about a lot are the mental health aspects of this. or the hollywood aspect of it, and we haven't focused on it. so if there is a comprehensive approach to it, perhaps it will get more involved. martha: as you said coming into this there are so many laws already on the books that are just not enforced, maybe that deserves some attention as well. thank you so much. we'll see you coming up tonight on special report. bill: cliff has the most restrictive gun laws in the

country but some are pushing to make the laws even tighter. california is considering bills that would require a permit and background check just to buy ammunition. kauclaudia cowan is on this story. >> reporter: good morning, california lawmakers who favor more gun control are seizing the moment and with confidence that their bills will pass. just this week we heard from politicians who want to regulate ammunition sales by requiring background checks and annual permits. one lawmaker is reintroducing a bill to ban bullet buttons, that's a feature he feels makes some guns easier to reload. in the meantime public employee programs are looking into divesting from certain gun companies. one the big teacher's pension fund took a step toward tkaog thadoing that yesterday. they say california will be a gun control study in sue respects. >> first of all wit will all

the new laws make a difference? and second of all where do we butt into the second amendment? the popular will in california, the legislative strength, the control of government is all in the hands of gun control advocates. so, as far as you're going to go anywhere in america you're going to go in california. >> reporter: in the weeks ahead half a dozen gun control pweurls expected tbills are expected to make their way try the lecture and they are all expected to pass. bill: there is reaction from gun groups, what do they saeufrpblgts they arsay? >> reporter: they are angry about the timing of this and say it's politics and pr. >> we've heard versions of all the proposals that are now being dusted off in the years past. gun control legislators, it's as if they wait in glory when an opportunity like newtown,

connecticut comes up for them to propose mayor measures. it's frankly it's terrible. >> reporter: meantime gun store owners worry about the economic impact on this day we saw customers stocking up on ammunition worried it will be become even more difficult to own and use a firearm here. gun rights groups vow to fight all of these proposals, first in sacramento and then in court if need be. back to you. bill: thank you. live in san francisco. martha,. martha: beefed up security at a los angeles elementary school pays off just a day after it started. officer daniel chavez heard gunshots and then saw an armed man running down the street as classes were letting out for the day. he arrested him just outside the school. >> i was thinking about the children that i had in my background, and all the kids on the playground, these are the children that i see on a daily basis outside, waiving to them

as i drive down the street. they know me as officer kh chavez as they come to school every day. martha: the increased police presence is part after program. deployed cops to every elementary school in los angeles at least once a day the program was launched in response to newtown, connecticut and the school shooting that happened there. bill: we've sheen a steady increase in firearm background checks over the past two years. from 2012 a record 19.5 million backed checks up 19% from the previous year. tpwraoeus a twice as many pw-bgmany backed checks than last year. tennessee saw the highest increases in gun background checks with nearly 92,000 in the month of december, that is up from 59,000 the previous month of november. martha: president obama's second term cabinet is taking shape. he's set to announce white house

chief staff jack lew as his pick to replace timothy geithner. we get word of another big change in the administration. hilda so li so hreurbgs z soliz will be stepping down. why does president obama want jack lew as secretary of the treasury. >> reporter: he was part of the president's team during tough economic times and decisions over the last few years. jack lew came to d.c. in 1973, 40 years ago and has experience all over town at the office of management and budget, at the state department, in the private sector at citibank and new york university. a white house official passed this along they said throughout his career jack lew has proven a successful and effective advocate for middle class families who can build bipartisan consensus to implement proved policies. jeff sessions from alabama says he does not think jack lew's

nomination will be successful. he is steamed that lew appeared before congress two years ago and testified that president obama's budget would not add to the national debt. sessions says and this is a quote. at this time of unprecedented slow growth, high unemployment and huge deficits we need a secretary of treasury that the american people, the congress, and the world will know is up to the task of getting america on the path to prosperity, not the path to decline. jack lew is not that man. if lew's nomination is successful his signature will go on all new u.s. dollar bills. this is what it looks like right now. we don't know if congress or the president will ask him to clean it up, martha. martha: we would imagine that it will probably improve a little bit. do we know why hilda soliz, the secretary of labor is stepping down. >> reporter: she says she made the decision to step down spending time over christmas and new years with her family in california. she actually sent a letter to

department of labor employees yesterday and part of it says at daughter of parents who worked in factories, paid their union dues and achieved their goal of a middle class life and as the first lay tina to head a federal agency it's been an incredible honor to serve. president obama thanked her in a statement for her steadfast commitment to his administration and to the american people, but we don't know at this time who he is going to pick to replace her. martha: thank you, peter. bill: as the new cabinet takes shape, have a look at this picture. ask yourself, look closely now, what is missing? why some are calling this snapshot the height of hypocrisy. we'll explain. martha: a city declaring an emergency because of the flu. doctors calling this the worst outbreak in ten years. emergency rooms across the country jam packed with sick people, some cases they've got people in the waiting rooms and in the emergency room hallways packed with people. more to come, perhaps. bill: also a small town taking

its own stand in the gun control debate. what it's doing that could involve every person who lives there. >> we was all raised especially with the livestock you always carry the weapon. >> i think it might help if there were more weapons available.

bill: so investigate this now. authorities trying to figure out what caused a construction crane to collapse in new york city. seven construction workers were hurt when the rig came down yesterday. this is actually queens, new york. three of them were trapped under the twisted metal, had to be rescued. not one of the injuries said to be life threatening, that is the good news, but witnesses say one of the cables holding that rig snapped as the crane was lifting a load there in new york. martha: president obama's cab nat nominations drawing new criticism that his second term is shaping up to be a boy's club this. photo was on the cover of the

new york times yesterday. it's a december oval office photo and it shows the president with ten visible male advisers in this picture. apparently one was blocking, senior adviser valerie jarrett, she apparently was in the picture as well. then they released this picture, apparently a little spin control, pr that has a lot of women in it. it shows mr. obama with five male advisers and three female advisers. valerie jarrett center stage in front of the oval office there. the reason this is of interest that during the election governor mitt romney came under a lot of fire when he mentioned hiring women tkaoeurg his tenure in massachusetts. >> i went to a number of groups and said could you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women. martha: dede benge key joins me now. and also kristen powers. it's ironic, kristen, base we know that mitt romney had a lot of women in his cabinet, a lot of women advisers.

he got a lot of heat for that binders full of women comment, just my plea so it wasn't the most artful phrase to be sure. what about these pictures and president obama's record on all of this given the fact he did quite well with women in the election. >> i talk about this a lot, i consider myself a tpepl tph*eus, but when i watched what went on during the election and the way mitt romney was treated and the hypocrisy where the binders full of women was really ridiculed, an was treated like he was a massage tph*eus, basically and you see a picture like this with president obama, and you have the left basically making excuses for him. ruth marcus wrote something saying, it's bad but it's not an outrage. it's an outrage if it's a republican. i think this is why when they survey women and ask you do you consider a tpepl tph*eu a tpepl

inch tph*eus, most women say no. martha: they don't like the implications that go along witness. let's take a look at some of the numbers here, there is a comparison of how presidents have done in terms of gender equality. i guess for lack of a better phrase. women in the cabinet, president obama so far has nine through the first term. president bush had ten total. bill clinton had 17 total. but what i was struck by, and as a woman i don't like these numbers comparison, to me it's like you don't get extra points for more woman. i just want to see sort of people chosen because they are the best person for the job. dede i think back to the relationship between condoleezzaa rice and president bush. she was his closist friend and con tpa den confidante. and because she was a black woman that wasn't really discussed. >> condoleezzaa rice was such an

incredible woman and so smart. here is the deal. barack obama throughout his campaign was constantly hounding mitt romney and talking about how he was going to be better for women and how there was the war on women, and it was all about women. and i think he owes women, frankly. the independent women, it's the group that voted him in. i don't understand this. there are a lot of capable women in washington d.c. and through our country. he can't find any to be in the top cabinet spots? i don't like it at all. i think it's bad. that's the problem i usually have with the republican party. i'm very prowomen. i'd like to see some cabinet spots right away. that picture, that was wrong. there definitely needs to be some women. it looked like a woman haters club. we need to she some women at the top of the cabinet posts, it's really information. martha: this is a 2012 election. president obama won 55% of the female vote. mitt romney got only 44%. that was an area that hurt him all along. they spent a whole lot of time at the democratic convention

pandering to women, you think of sandra fluck: kerry hung out with him during debate prep. obama may be regs on his laurels. she is saying there are a lot of good women out there. he's saying, you're a good bud die, why don't you take this position with me. what do you think about that? >> i love march get karlsson but she's making excuses. they make excuses for obama but they won't if it was mitt romney. it's not -- that is not the problem. i mean, this is not the first time that -- i can tell you from working in democratic politics and having worked in the clinton white house and so on that this is something that democratic women will complain about behind the scenes. if you look at pictures of president bush, condoleezzaa rice is always by his side. you look at picture after 9/11 it has karen hughes, mary

madeline, condoleezzaa rice in the picture. bill clinton's inner circle were all men, mostly white men. and i think the issue is that if you're going to go out and claim that you are the part steve women, i mean give me a break. there is no women -- martha: i would just say at the end that to me i think that numbers are less important than actions. actions are always more powerful than words. it's who is in your inner circle? who do you trust and who do you choose to be by your side. >> that's exactly right, martha. martha: it's a reflection of everybody's qualification, whether they are male or female. thank you. you're my favorite women. good to have you here today. bill: new details now in the possible reason one of the best football players ever took his own life. details on junior seau's brain injury sustained by a career of hard hits on the field. martha: police in ohio

threatened as they investigate a high profile case. the f.b.i. is now involved in the steubenville case and the sheriff is fighting off charges of corruption. >> i i had respect for them, i thought their cause was right, they thought there was some injustice going on. they have a right to stand up for that, but when you cost the line and start a character assassination, they've lost their mission. 50 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like no atm fees, worldwide. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and no nuisance fees. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus deposit ches with mobile deposit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and manage your cash and investments tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with schwab's mobile app. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so if you're looking for a bank that's in your corner, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 not just on the corner... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

isurprise...it's eating less. to losing weight. i'm hungry just thinking about it. thank goodness for new slimful. one delicious, 90-calorie slimful and a glass of water, like before dinner, helps keep me satisfied for hours. so instead of this much, i only need this much. and slimful tastso good... i don't even miss dessert. slimful and a glass of water... eating less is a beautiful thing. bill: this is a story that affects just about everybody. in all likelihood you know somebody affected by this. health officials in boston have a flu emergency on their hands. 700 cases so far, at least four deaths in that city. the outbreak spreading fast across the country.

41 states report widespread cases of the flu. in 29 of the states the problem is even more severe. how much worse can this get? dr. marc siegl member of the fox news medical a team and from the langone medical center. good morning to you we are not the peak yet. >> reporter: maybe not three or four weeks before it peaks. bill: you say it's not the worst we've seen but it's the worst in ten years. >> reporter: there was a strain in 2003-4, that strain was bad and led to the deaths of 40,000 people. this is a similar strain. it starts early and should peak either at the end of this month or some time next month. that gives people a chance to do about what i'm to tell them. this is a happy story. as scary as this is you can get a flu shot. bill: you can get a flu shot now and still be guarded against it is what you're saying. >> reporter: exactly. the cda made 135 million shots this year.

we have less than 45% compliance. people out there can go and get a shot today. your physician or pharmacy has a flu shot. it takes about two or three weeks before it's effective and by then the season will be really peeking. since they got it right this year and matched the strain. the strain that is causing all this havoc is 75 to 80% of the tphrao*eu ou flu out there. bill: it takes two to three weeks for the flu shot to be effective in your body. >> reporter: absolutely. >> you're saying that this year's match matches the strain that is out here. we have a member of our staff who has been in bed for the past week. what she is saying, what the doctors are telling you that you guess every tkwraoer, not you in particular but the cdc trying to figure out what strain will be the worst. and they missed. >> reporter: they guess every year. they look down in south america and asia, they see what the prevailing straeurpbs during our summer, their winter. this year they got it right, they did not pheufplts the

predominant strain is in the vaccine. bill: we look to other starts of the world to see what the strain is. >> reporter: it's something tpauld flu net that the cdc does together with the world held organization. bill: tell me what is happening in boston. what is the real concern to you as a doctor. >> reporter: to me having written a book on fear the real tkerpb is that people are going to panic. we don't have what is called surge capacity in our emergency rooms. that means that emergency rooms are at their limit to begin with. if there is an outbreak they can't handle it because it could get in the way with people that are having heart attacks or some other medical emergency, because flu is clogging the emergency rooms. i would urge people out there, talk to your physician first. do you really need the er? can this be handled as an outpatient? if you're at risk for a secondary infection, maybe i can treat you with and the by to the particulars, maybe you need tamaflu. see if you really need the er and stay calm. i don't want people in the emergency rooms interfering with

other medical emergencies. bill: great points. we'll talk to you later. marc siegl here in studio. martha: the debate over gun violence reaching a small town in america. instead of banning guns one town is asking residents to arm themselves, and they want everybody in the town to participate. we are going to speak with the lawmaker behind that proposal. bill: the nominees are, we have the run down of who made oscar's short list and who was snubbed which is just as interesting this year. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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." martha: this morning we now know more about this story because there is a new study that has found that former nfl linebacker junior seau suffered from traumatic brain disease because of head trauma. he killed himself last may two years after retiring as one of the best linebackers in nfl history. a team of scientists from the national institute of health analyzed his brain tissue and found this disease, and they have just released the findings this morning. that diseaves being hit over time on the football field can cause dementia, memory loss and depression. several dozen football players have been diagnosed with traumatic brain disease and it is a area of a lot of discussion right now within the nfl and

this will fuel that no doubt. bill: to the town with its own way of addressing the gun debate in america. this from the city of utah. spring city lawmakers are encouraging everyone living in the town to own a gun and to take gun training. kneel sor neil sorenson first proposed the ordinance. good morning to you and welcome to "america's newsroom." >> good morning. bill: explain to our audience the motivation behind the idea. why did you come up with it? >> to protect the citizens, our individuals and make spring city a safer and better place to be. bill: was there an event that triggered that, sir? >> in the news, connecticut, the sandy hook shooting, aurora, colorado, it seemed the right time to bring it forth. bill: i see, and when you proposed this idea, what kind of reaction did you get? >> a very positive, very positive reaction.

unanimous vote with the city council. that they support and we want to recommend and encourage the use of firearms in every household, and be trained and proficient in its use. bill: what do you think that would do if it goes through, if the law is passed? >> i definitely think criminals would think twice before they do a home invasion or a crime in spring city. bill: because? >> they know that we will be armed and be able to protect ourselves. bill: i was reading, your town is not very big, right, about 11, 1200 is my guess, right? >> just under a thousand people, right around a thousand. bill: but throughout the state of utah, give us a sense about, you know, the gun culture in your state and how it's perceived? >> most people already have guns, and we're advocating the training, and to be proficient at its use, and it's very positive. bill: was there any push back? because i get the impression that it's being well received. and i understand the point you're making there.

did anybody come back and say, hey you know what we might want to think twice about that. >> yes, there's been some that didn't like the record required, and i definitely agree with that, and so we went with recommend and encourage. bill: what about weapons' training? what aspect of the law would address that? >> we are doing trainings with the concealed weapons courses, and just more training in our town, and being aware that there is training going on and available, and we encourage it. bill: you can understand how maybe some folks living not in utah, would find this a bit surprising. what would you say to them? >> that i have a right and a responsibility to protect myself, my family, and the community, and i feel this is the best way i know how to do it. bill: you think this law will pass, sir? >> yes, i do. bill: and when would that be?

>> it should go on the books within a couple of months. bill: okay. >> we have to have a public hearing. bill: we'll be in touch with you and we'll listen to the citizens who live in your town and see fit goes through. you're about 40 or 50 miles south of salt lake city, right there smack dab in the center of the state, sir. we'll be watching it. neil sorenson with a novel idea in the town of spring lake utah. thank you. martha: you know, americans are holding onto their cars longer than ever, not a big surprise in this economy, right? but some drivers for them that means that there are big bills to pay in terms of remayor on that car. a sign of the times it has also created a big business opportunity for a couple helping folks to fix their own vehicles. stacey siegel is live in plano, texas this morning. how does this concept work? >> reporter: it's quite simple, you need to change your oil, how about replace the brake pads this, place not only gives you the space to do it but you also

have access to the tools you'll need right at your fingertips. in fact the same tools that professional mechanics are using at garages, like hydraulic lifts and computer diagnostic equipment. it will cost you 20 bucks to rent a bay by the hour, 10 bucks to rent tools, and whatever parts you need. bottom line customers saving an average of $100 per hour in labor fees that a dealership would charge you. so what if you do not know anything about cars? well, there is a mechanic on site here to help as well. >> they might be indimidated about coming in to perform their own repairs, but they know that here they won't get stuck on anything because our technician can advise and guide them on projects. we have online repair manuals available. >> reporter: this opened in north texas last september. it hopes to eventually expand across the country, martha.

martha: do they equate sort of how much money this could actually save you if you go this route? >> reporter: yeah, quite a bit. for example, the average professional brake job can cost upwards of $500. you can do it at a place like this for less than half that, and really that is why the concept is growing, because americans simply are holding onto their cars longer than they have before. back in 95 the average age of a car on the road was a little more h-pb 8 year more than 8 years old. today it's a little more than 11 years. the recession clearly playing a huge role in that. >> there was a credit crisis in 2008, that was a big part of it. in addition to the consumer uncertainty there was less opportunity to buy and as a result sales plunged. >> reporter: now for context, roughly 6 million fewer new cars were sold in one year's time,

between 2008 and 2009, so martha, clearly an aging fleet means morey pairs, which is why places like this are growing in popularity. martha: very interesting. thank you, casey. bill: there are massive wildfires spreading quickly, faster than the firefighters can keep up with them, dozens of homes already destroyed. and that record-breaking weather likely a factor here. martha: own ohio sheriff has become a target of online death threat east investigates a very controversial high school rape case. now the f.b.i. is getting involved in this story and neighbors of the victim are demanding justice. >> this is a shame. it's going to come out it's going to be due process. if the kids are guilty they are going to get what they have to get. this is totally -- this is insane.

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bill: there are at least a

hundred people said to be missing as these wildfires spread across centra australia. firefighters battling record heat. of it is sumner that country, temperatures reach about 105 early in the week as many of the fires started. today they are taking advantage of a break from that heat, but forecasters are predicting temperatures heading back north yet again. 100 people said to be missing already. martha: the f.b.i. is now investigating the backlash in a small ohio town after two high school football players are accused of rape. the hacker group known as anonymous has staged rallies in steubenville against the police department there, and now f.b.i. agents are looking into several online threats that have been made against the sheriff there. arthur eye call louisian aidala joins me now, and anahita gaspa

reurbgs our defense attorney. i know i said your name wrong. in term much the f.b.i.'s role they are there primarily not about the underlying case but about the threats made against the sheriff, right? >> absolutely. it's all about balance. in other words, the united states of america we are allowed to voice our opinion, we are allowed to say we think the prosecution is good, bad, they should be pro prosecuted, they shouldn't be pros quite. you ca prosecuted. you can do it on facebook. twitter, online. when you hack into other people's emails hanna none must lee threatening the life of the investigator, of the sheriff who is conducting the investigation. i'm going to kill you, we are going to kill your family, that cannot be toll rated. that cannot be tolerated. we should use the technology that we have to figure out wh out who threatened the life of the investigator investigating

this rape and that person should at the very least be prosecuted for harassment at the very least. martha: you know, this whole story just sort of smacks of the worst things that can happen in a town, in any small town across america, when people are accused, and now you've got aide onto that the layer of social media, where these witnesses feel threatened if they come forward. there were a lot of people there that night, and many of them may never feel free or safe to tell their story. >> i agree with you wholeheartedly. i think we can all agree that this is a very, very tragic incident, and if it's true, yes, the defendant should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. but there is another assault that is taking place here, and that is an assault on our criminal justice system. we are having these defendants being tried now via the internet, via social media and now we have cyberbullies threatening witnesses, potential

witnesses, and the authorities? i mean that threatens the heart of what our criminal justice system is about. yes, i think it is absolutely right for the f.b.i. to get involved and to take control of this circus and make it clear that it's a crime to cyberbully people, that it is a crime to threaten witnesses. martha: i mean they really need to put fear into these people, arthur. it's such a wild west feel. >> it is. martha: for the past ten years weave bean talking about there isn't enough ramifications. >> there is none. martha: people feel that anonymous as the hacker group is called when they are online, what can the f.b.i. do? how can they crackdown on them? >> look, they have the technology to know where the messages come from. they can go tow a judge to a judge and get certain type of warrants. they can open it way up. they could subpoena facebook, they could subpoena twitter, they can -- a federal gentlema a fed a federal judge, the

f.b.i., they could draw the line in the sand. you want to say the kids shouldn't be prosecuted, you can say that, you can't tell the chief investigator we are going to kill you and your family, it's a crime, period. martha: indeed. thank you very much. we are going to stay on top of that story. that's just one aspect of it this morning. bill: jenna lee is standing by rolling your way in 12 minutes. jenna: we are watching disturbing new details on a story that affects all of us, the flu, it's getting worse, spreading rapid lease, you have three more states added to the list of where the outbreak is the worst in this country. we'll tell but that, plus we have that new cabinet nomination from the president, why this one is also controversial and we are expecting new video during our show of meetings between the vice president and various interest groups on the gun debate as the administration gets increasingly more involved on this issue. big i shall aourbgs big topic for us today, bill, we'll see you at the top of the hour. bill: what do you this is the best film of the year.

oscar nomination are out and honest abe made it in a big way the biggest surprise is who did not make the lis after this. list after this.

bill: it is a big day for hollywood. the academy award nominations are out and these are the films that were most coveted on the list for best picture. roll this. >> the best pictures nominees for 2012 are east of the southern wild. >> southern lining playbook. >> "zero dark thirty."

>> "lincoln." >> "life of pi." >> aeu mohammemore amour. bill: what is not on that list is catherine bigelow and "zero dark thirty" the first film ever made about the war on terror. twitter is going nuts over the fact that she was not nominated, are they right? >> there are a lot of opinions about why she was not nominated, number one is the film had a political content to it. we have senators in washington questioning the portrayal of waterboarding and torture in the film whether or not it was accurate or not, whether or not it resulted in information, whether or not it glorified those practices. bill: you think that politics may have played a role in this. >> certainly people out there think so. the other reason that people are giving out there for her not getting a nomination is this category is not necessarily welcoming towards women. only four women have been nominated. she is the only woman to have

won before. bill: a couple of years ago with "the hurt locker." >> the category is all male yet again. that could play a role. a lot of theories out there. bill: there will be a lot of debate about this going forward. we'll talk about this again. five nomination tpoergs that film but a lot of them are in minor categories. "lincoln" 12 nominations, what did you think? >> steven spielberg, masterful director another great job here, well reviewed, terrific performance in the central role by daniel day-lewis. sally fields who i talked to for this whic picture. she gets nominated again. the result is a lot of nominations. bill: i thought this film was over rate. >> overrated. bill: i thought they cheapened out. i wanted to see washington in that year recreated and they did not do that. >> instead of doing a film about

the civil war and the battlefield, it was about the political process. bill: great topic and i love the dialogue back and forth but this film could have been made inside of a studio. and i thought that's where they cut corners. >> spielberg at this point in his career has done the big epic thing, the special effects thing, he took a more interior route and oscar rewarded him. bill: argue r-r, 1979, american hostages. ben affleck, a decent film. what did you think? >> people thought ben affleck would get core natured at this year's oscars. he's not up for best actor or director. he got snubbed. bill: why would that be? >> maybe they figure he has it all? he's rich, haoes attractive. it's very odd that he was left off this list. bill: you're a movie critic. do you think this movie was worth knee?

>> it got great reviews from a lot of critics. i'm an entertainment editor. a lot of people gave this movie a good review and it's surprising that he got snubbed both as an actor and director. usually oscar loves actor-directors, people like robert redford, kevin costner. they get embraced at the oscars. bill: the best part about argu arguargo was the credits. i thought that was a remarkable piece of film making. i don't know why every film is 2 hours 28 minutes. >> no oscar for best end kr-fplts he is out of look. bill: thank you, chris. chris farley, "wall street journal." martha: i liked argo and "les miserables." i have a few more on my list. catherine webb, i bet you didn't even know that name before this week. i sure didn't. but from beauty queen to nation-wide sensation, why she

has suddenly canceled all interviews. very interesting. we'll be right back.

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